The present invention pertains to a mobile medical supply device with a supply apparatus, especially an anesthesia apparatus, to which a plurality of supply lines and drain lines for supplying the patient are to be connected in operation. The lines may be a plurality of electrical, liquid-carrying and gas-carrying lines.
Since the supply apparatus often must be moved during use, e.g., in an operating room or in an intensive care unit, the handling of the supply apparatus is complicated, because the supply and drain lines must be moved along in a coordinated manner during its movement.
In a prior-art supply device, the supply apparatus is provided with rollers, so that it can be moved on the floor. However, it is difficult in this case to ensure a coordinated joint movement of the supply and drain lines, which extend, on the one hand, from, e.g., stationary outlets in the operating room to the supply apparatus and, on the other hand, beginning from these to the patient. When the supply apparatus is moved, the personnel must ensure at the same time that the lines are moved along and do not hang in the room in a manner hindering or jeopardizing the work. To achieve this, the lines must be pulled along and laid over stationary suspensions. This makes the movement of such a movable supply apparatus very cumbersome for the personnel.
As an alternative design for a mobile supply device, it has been known that a ceiling fixture suspended from the ceiling of the medical work room may be provided, which lamp has a double arm rotatably suspended on the ceiling, at one end of which, which end faces away from the axis of rotation, a frame hanging above the floor of the room is suspended. The medical supply apparatus is hung into this frame, so that it is held freely floating in the room. The ceiling fixture with its double arm is provided with suspensions and guides, into which the supply and drain lines to the supply apparatus can be hung. To move the supply apparatus, the latter is displaced by the personnel, while the double arm rotates and/or a pivoting of the arms of the double arm takes place relative to one another. A simple movement of the supply apparatus is thus made possible in a simple manner, and the supply and drain lines suspended on the ceiling fixture are carried along automatically during movements of the supply apparatus. One drawback of this device is that both the suspension of the ceiling fixture and the double arm must be designed as a very stable unit and for a high load-bearing capacity in order for them to be able to carry the supply apparatus, which may have a considerable weight, freely floating in the room. The consequence of this is a high initial cost, on the one hand, and, on the other hand, high costs for the installation of the suspension of the ceiling fixture with the necessary load-bearing capacity. Another drawback is that the supply apparatus cannot be expanded with auxiliary apparatuses, because the frame provided for the supply apparatus has no place for this.
The primary object of the present invention is to provide a mobile medical supply device that is simpler in terms of its design and its installation than the above-mentioned one and also makes possible a simple operation during use and a simple following movement of the supply and drain lines to the medical supply apparatus during use.
According to the present invention, the medical supply device is provided with a medical supply apparatus movable on rollers on the floor as well as with a ceiling fixture, which has a multilink arm, which is to be rotatably suspended on a room ceiling and is directed essentially horizontally in the suspended state, wherein the links of the multilink arm are pivotably connected to one another. A frame, which is movable in a horizontal plane in the room due to rotation and movement of the multilink arm and which is provided with means for suspending the supply and drain lines, is suspended at one end of the multilink arm facing away from the axis of rotation. The supply apparatus is coupled with the frame by means of a mechanical connection means, and the mechanical connection means has clearance for vertical movements between the frame and the movable supply apparatus, so that unevennesses of the floor are compensated during the movement of the supply apparatus without load on the ceiling fixture.
Since the ceiling fixture in the device according to the present invention has to carry only the frame, whereas the supply apparatus rests on rollers on the floor, the ceiling fixture may be designed as a mechanically much simpler and lighter-weight ceiling fixture, because it can be designed for a substantially lower load-bearing capacity. This leads to considerably reduced manufacturing costs and installation costs for the ceiling fixture. At the same time, simple following movement of the supply and drain line s to the supply apparatus is guaranteed during its movement, because these lines may be suspended on the ceiling fixture.
Another advantage of the device according to the present invention is that the movable supply apparatus may be connected to expansion apparatuses, which may be fastened on or at the supply apparatus or may also be designed as movable apparatuses and may be coupled with the supply apparatus. The coupling of expansion apparatuses is not possible in the case of prior-art devices with a floatingly suspended supply apparatus.
The various features of novelty which characterize the invention are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this disclosure. For a better understanding of the invention, its operating advantages and specific objects attained by its uses, reference is made to the accompanying drawing and descriptive matter in which a preferred embodiment of the invention is illustrated.